It has put Foglietta, Nico and her partner Micaela Ghisleni in a tough position as local officials in Turin have suggested to Foglietta she should ‘declare’ she had intercourse with a man in order to register Nico. She has refused to lie on an official document, BBC Newsreports.

Artificial insemination has become the norm in EU member countries, however, Italy still refuses to accept it. They have consistently banned this and various other kinds of fertility treatments in the past.

… the staff [at the public records office] tell me ‘you should declare that you had union (sexual intercourse) with a man, to get your boy registered. There is no formula allowing you to say that you had artificial insemination’.

She says in order to get her son ‘registered at the public records office’ she must ‘tell a lie’.

A year before the bill was passed, the European Court of Human Rights had ruled Italy were violating human rights laws with its failure to provide sufficient legal protection for same-sex couples. LBGTQ+ groups in Italy saw the bill as a betrayal.

Flavio Romani, president of gay rights group Arcigay told Reuters:

This text once again does not take into consideration children who need definite laws and protection.

… the law currently does not provide for recognition of the sons and daughters of homosexual couples born in Italy.

However, she did tell Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera she was ‘Personally in favour’ of registering both women as the legal parent of Niccolo.

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She said:

Personally I am in favour and willing to proceed with registration, but with this current legal vacuum the rights of the parents and children cannot be guaranteed.

The current fertility rate in Italy is among one the lowest in the EU. Last year the average number of children per women was said to be only 1.34, a significant drop compared in 2010’s 1.46, a national statistic provided by Istat.

Perhaps what is more shocking, and tragic, is last year the country saw 183,000 more deaths by birth.